Spirit of the Law

There are at least two ways to look at laws. The letter of law is interpreted exactly as written. The spirit of the law leaves room for different interpretations. My father definitely does things to both extremes. He believes in the letter of the law when it comes to “speeding”. When he drives over the speed limit, according to his “letter of law” he owes a fine. He doesn’t have to get a ticket to know he owes the money. So he mails the police the cost of what the ticket would have been. Sending it without a ticket is probably living to spirit of the law as well.

He doesn’t live near me, but the police and others have my contact information. They occasionally call and ask me what to do with his check. I say “cash it”. He believes he owes it and I want his check account to balance.

Clearly there could be many different ways to understand a law and all of them be correct, depending on the beliefs and understanding of those involved.